Elmer W. Bullis was born near Waukau, Wisconsin on May 13, 1873. He married Maud Lawler on January 23, 1893 in Winnebago County. A daughter Gertrude was born October 2, 1895 and a son Vernon was born February 5, 1898. He is first listed in the Oshkosh City Directory in 1905 working for the Hollister, Amos [Lumber] Company. He enlisted in Company F, 2nd Regiment Wisconsin National Guard on June 8, 1904. He listed his occupation as teamster. He had gray eyes, brown hair, a ruddy complexion, and was five feet five and three-quarters inches tall. He reenlisted in 1907 and every year after. He was promoted to corporal and on August 3, 1917 to sergeant. He enlisted again on August 7, 1916 and served in Texas during the Mexican Border War. He became a member of Company C, 150th Machinegun Company in August 1917. On July 28, 1918 he was severely wounded by shrapnel in both legs and his neck. He died on August 3, 1918 and was buried in the city cemetery at Epaux, France at the age of 45.

Dear Friend Bert & Family.I received your letter of May 19th last night, & to say that I was surprised & also glad to hear from you. Han't worth mentioning. Also glad to hear that you were all well. We are all well as can be expected, with the work we have to do. Our old company has had awful good luck so far. We have been in the trenches 3 times & been on 2 raids & only lost one man. We lost one man just before we came out this time. Paul Fauck was his name. I don't think you know him. He was shot June 3. We gave him as good a funeral as we could. We did not dare all go: only 1 man from each squad were allowed to go. The funeral & burial took place in a little cemetery in sight of the Boche trenches. We put a nice neat fence around his grave & a cross at the head with his name & tag on & hung his helmet on the cross & covered it with flowers of which this country is alive with them. They even grow right up to the trenches.We even got something that crawls & stays right with us, in the trenches & out. They go by the name of Cooties here, but when I used to go into the woods, they used to call them Gray Backs [lice].Bert, I am so glad you went in to see my family and I wish Maude would go visiting all her extra time. That would take her mind off from me being away. I know she puts in a good many lonely days. But let us pray that this cruel war will soon be over & that we have the good luck to get back home. I have seen all the war I ever want to see & all the country. I would like to have good luck to get back & live my short life with my family. I have been away so much that my children don't hardly know that they have got a Daddy. I tell you Bert, I am one of the proudest old boys in this world, over our new boy. My head has expanded so since I got the word that they had to make another helmet for me. My old one looked like Happy Holligan's tomato can on my head.George Holland sends his regards. He says you & him used to chew the rag quite a lot at Paine's. Pete Stever is well & looks fine. He is one of the best gunners. I tell you Bert, if a fellow could write anything he wanted to, he could write a great book. I feel so sorry for Uncle Albert & family. It seems strange, he used to be such a horse to work & have his health go like that. I would like to know if he got my letter. Tell them I will write another as quick as possible. I can't always write, you know.Well Bert, I will have to close for this time. Hoping you will write often. Don't wait for me to write. My regards to the family & everyone else. Your old friend,Sergeant E. BullisCo. C, 150th M.G.Bn.P.O. 715 A. E. F.

Event

World War I

Category

8: Communication Artifact

Legal Status

Oshkosh Public Museum

Object ID

SC411.10.25.2

Object Name

Letter

People

Bullis, Elmer W.Fauck, Paul

Subjects

World War I150th Machine Gun Battalion42nd DivisionTrench warfare

Title

Letter

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